Machine for forming sheet-metal-roofing strips



sept. s; 1925;

G. 5. KING MACHINE FOR FORMING SHEET METAL ROOFING STRIPS Filed Nov. f7. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet l Bepi. s. i925,-

1,552,844 G. B. KING MACHINE FOR FORMING SHEET METAL ROOFING STRIPS Filed Nov. '7. 1.92254 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 8, 1925.

. G. KING MACHINE Fon romains SHEET METAL RooFruG s'rRIPs Filed Nov. 7. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 NST dll, www

sept; s, 1925. y 1,552,844

G. B. KING MACHINE FQR FGRMING SHEET METAL ROOFING ySTRIPS sind uw. v. 192s svsheets-sheet 4 sept. s, 1925. y 1,552,844

G. B. KING MACHINE FOR FORMING SHEET METAL ROOFING STRIPS und nov. v; 192s s shew-sheet s Patented Sept. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE.

GEORGE B. KING, OF`SOUTH BOSTON, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR QF ONE-THIRD T0 CHARLES lS. MILLS, OF SOUTH BOSTON, VIRGINIA.

MACHINE FOR FORMING SHEET-METAL-ROOFING STRIPS.

Application led November 7, 1923. Serial No. 673,325.`

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. K ING, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Boston, in the county of Halifax andy State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Forming Sheet-Metal-Rooing Strips; and I do hereby dec-lare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. Y

This invention relates to a machine for making creased strips of sheet metal'roofing suitable for easy assembly in locking engagement.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machine which will crease a blank of sheet metal into a section having therein a V-shaped groove with its dihedral angle apex bent over on itself and having at the other end of the stri 3 a cooperating angular flange so that w en two similar sheets are assembled on a roof they will be locked together and the nail holes will be entirely hidden.

Other objects of the presentV invention concern the specific details of the machine here shown and described and particularly claimed.

For some years it has been the custom to apply sheet metal to a roof in single sections having locking engagement with one another such sections being roughly about two feet by twelve feet and the better forms being such that a locking engagement is had with no need for soldering, crimping, or other further handling of the metal except the nailinfr down of each successive strip.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the central unit of my machine;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a. side elevation, taken .on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the creaser blade;

Fig. 6 is a similar sectionk showing the tool lowered;

Figs. 7 and 8 show the creasing operation;

Fig. 9 is a plan of the tool piece;

Fig. 10 is an edge viewI of the creased piece.

Itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that the mechanism illustrated is but a single section of a very large machine, the section shown being the full width of the machine but being of very short length, the full machine being over twelve feet long and being composed of a considerable number of practically similar units, all units receiving their powerr from the main shaft centrally arranged in the central section here illustrated. The single central section shown may be used alone to crease small width pieces'of sheet metal as for example in the making of metallic shingles.

The table 10 is a heavy casting preferably in three pieces, numbered 11, 12 and 13, which are rigidly secured at frequent intel'- vals throughout the Width of the machine to the standards 16 and 17 thus forming an extremely rigid main support cap-able of withstanding the heavy duty imposed upon it. Y

Transverse bars such as18 connect adjacent standards 17 and 16 of the central unit of the machine and support journals 19 for the main shaft 20 which carries between the two journals 19 a beveled gear wheel 22, which -drives the transverse shafts (not shown) connecting the other units, and an edge cam 24.

A pair lof independent carriages or vertically reciprocating frames A and B are driven from the main shaft 20 in any preferred manner preferably by the duplicate cams 26 and 27 secured to the main shaft outward of the bearings 19 and engaging the transverse bars 28 and 29 forming a cam boX at the lower end of the frames A and B. The positions of the cams on the main shaft are such that the frame A first lowers, the frame B next 4descends and remains stationary while the frame A again rises to its highest point after which the frame B rises to initial position which is at a point where the creasing tools are entirely out of conany desired width each for example nine inches to a foot and separated by a small slot of about an inch. On either side of the blade 30 are yielding clamps preferably of different design, eachof the clamps 31 being a simple cylindrical rod slidinov loosely through the upper bar 32 of the rame A and in a transverse bar 33 on the longitudinal bars 34 of the frame B. 'A spring 35 surrounds the rod 31 pressing at the upper end against the bar 32 and at the lower end against a pin 39 through the rod 31, urging it downwardly and yinto Contact with the table 10 except as limited by the head 38 of the rod 31. Each of the other pressing members is preferably in the form of a roller 40 carrie-d by two or more rods 41 sliding freely in longitudinal struts 43 secured to the longitudinal bar 32 and. `urged downwardly by springs 44 engaging the struts 43 at the top and pins 45 at the bottom, the rods 41 like the rods 31 having enlarged heads 46 to limit the downward movement of the pressure elements and to prevent them from being in contact with the table when the .frame A is at the upper limit of its travel.

The clearance of the pressure element-s should be such that their lowest points, when the frame A is raised', are not substantially lower Athan the bottom edge of any of the creasingy tools in -order that proper clearance be pr-ovided for the incoming sheet of metal which is intended to be inserted in the machine automatically, but the mechanism for this has been purposely omitted for the sake of clearness as it forms no part of the present invention, vand hence the machine will be described for the purposes of this patent as being a hand-fed machine, the gages 50 being of the usual adjustable type held in desired position by means of the usual slot and bolt connection 50 as indicated in Figure 1.

The creasing tools consist of a plurality of V-shaped members numbered 5l, 52 and 53 for the larger tools and 54 for the considerably smaller tools which cooperate ,with the shallow grooves 55 in the table base to form the deflecting guides in theiinished roofing pla-tes to prevent the drops of rain which have seeped through the joint from reaching the nail holes.

The central tool 52 which may be omitted when handling 28-inch material may some` Atimes be used with the wide stock, and is valso lused in handling 12-inch stock to make the 4upstanding edge flange of the roofing sheet when handling the narrow stock. The .V-shaped. tool .53 is made of the shape shown principally so that it may be reversed, this tool having but one working edge, i. e., the edge o-r bevel nearest the tool 52 thus forming a do-wnturned flange on the sheet metal. This face of tool V53 co-operates with :the face of a groove 58 in the bed7 which groove may conveniently extend through the base. lIt is not necessary, however, that the table be separated at the groove 58 but it is necessary that the table be sepa-rated between the sections 11 and 12 as will be apparent from the following description. The groove 59L is always V-shaped and I find it preferable not to extend this groove through the bed.

The tool 51 is formed .bytwo downwardly converging blades 60 and 61 the former of which is preferably somewhat larger than the blade 61 forming the slot between the two blades in which the creasing blade 30 works, being guided in its downward movement by the two blades of the tool 51, these blades being longitudinally reinforced by strips of material bridging the space between the upper edges of blades 60, 61 as shown in Fig. 9. These reinforcing bridge p-ieces are, of course, located in line with or beneath each slot in the blade 30. The slot 64 in the table 10 preferably has one edge formed by a steel ruler 66 secured to the section 11 in any desired manner either permanently or detachably, this ruler 66 cooperating with the blade 6() in holding the sheet metal during the wiping action to bei described later. The action of the parts so far described is as follows:

The piece of sheet metal is fed into position between the gages 50 when the carriages A and rB are both elevated. The frame A first descends carrying the blade 30 and the `pressure roller 40 into substantially simultaneous contact with ythe sheet metal .to be creased. The blade 30 passes beneath the table top somewhat more than an inch and remains stationary in suoli position while the frame B descends, the first effect of which is to permit the pressure -rods 31 to come into contact with the sheet meta-l which is now held on both sides of the creasing blade 30. The descent of the frame B brings the tools 51, 52 and 53 into Contact with the metal vwhich is pressed into shape by the cooperating grooves 64, 59 and 58 respectively5 and at the end of the stroke the smaller creasing ribs 54 form. the two seepage deflecting ridges in the metal. At this time .the frames A and B are both attheir lowest points but at the time the fra-me B comes int-o substantial contact with the sheet and the table the frame A starts to rise.

Supported on longitudinal members 7() which form the bottom of the frame A are journal :boxes 71 in which are pivoted arms .72 carrying at their ytop a curved edge wiper blade 75 which is held away from the driving sprocket wheel 7 6 by means of a spring 7 7 the free end of which is secured to a stationary part -of the table support. It will be noted that the arm 7 2 and vthe wiper bla-de 75 rise with the frame A being pivotally carried thereon.

A shaft 80 secured `to a stationary part of the machine carries a pair of arms 81pivotally mounted in the end of which is a roller 82 designed to `form the `initial transverse bend in the bight made in the sheet metal by the creasing blade 30 and also to press against the wiping blade 75. The shaft 8O v also carries a small lug S5 and a short cam arm 86 at t-he free end of which is mounted a cam roller 87 governed by the cam surface of the disk 241 secured to the main shaft 20. As the main shaft 2O revolves the cam 24 engages the roller 87 rocking the shaft 80 so that the roll 82 passes lunder the slot 64 and bends the bight of the sheet metal to the left as seen in Fig. 1. During this time the wiping bla-de 75 has been rising constantly and after the roll 82 has completed its short motion the rounded edge of the wiping b-lade 75 comes in contact with the bend in the metal and since the roll 82 is now in contact with the standard or end piece 16, the crease in the metal is pressed very tightly against the steel blade 66. Vhen the wiping blade 75 has reached the end of its strokeand is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the blade 30 is at its highest point and a very slight movement further of the shaft 22 raises the frame B to initial position at which time the creased sheet is withdrawn widthwise of the table and a new piece of stock inserted.

IVhat I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a bed having a plurality of indentations therein, a frame movable toward and away from said bed, a creasing blade on said frame movable into one of said indentations, a supplemental frame movable toward and away from said bed independently of the said first mentioned frame and a creasing tool on the supplemental frame movable into the same inc entation.

2. In combination` a bed having a plurality of crease forming depressions therein, a frame movable toward and away from said bed and creasing tools cooperating with certain of the indentations in the bed, a second frame, a creasing blade carried thereon, and means for bringing said second frame into contact with a sheet of metal on the bed and for subsequently bringing said iirst mentioned frame into contact with said sheet.

3. In combination, a bed, a pair of frames moveable toward and away from the bed to crease a sheet of met-al thereagainst, yielding means carried by one of said frames for holding a sheet of metal on the bed, and means on the other frame for preventing contact of said yielding means with said sheet until the second frame has moved a portion of its travel. Y

4. In a device of the character described, a bed having a slot therein, said `slot being bounded with sloping sides, a fra-me, a creasing blade movable into said slot and yielding means on said frame and located on both sides of said creasing` blade 'for holding a sheet of metal against the bed a creasing tool movable into Vsaid opening on each side of said sheet during movement of said creasing blade into the slot.

5. In a device of the character described, a. bed having an opening therein bounded by sloping sides, a support movable toward and away from said bed, a creasing blade carried by said support in position to enter said opening, said blade comprising a plurality of similar sections spaced from one another, and means for pressing a sheet of metal against the sloping sides of said opening after passage of said creasing blade through said opening. Y

6. In a device oi' the character described, al bed having a slot therein, a` ruler at one side of the bed making an obtuse angle with said bed and forming one side of said slot, a creasing blade adapted to move from the other side of said bed into said slot to form a bight in a sheet of metal on the bed with said bight extending through the table and beyond the ruler, and means -for bending the bight against the ruler.

7. In a device of the character described, a bed having an opening with sloping sides, a ruler forming one of the sloping sides of said opening and projecting downwardly beyond the bed, a creasing blade adapted t-o force a sheet of metal through saidopening, means for pressing the sheet of metal against the sloping sides of said opening, and additional means for deilecting the biglit in the sheet metal against the projecting portion of said ruler.

8. In a device of the character described, a bed having a slot therein, said slot having sloping sides, a creasing blade formed of a plurality of separated sections, a pressing member adapted to press a sheet of metal against the sloping sides of said slot, said member consisting of al pair of rulers making an acute angle with one another' and reinforced between the spaces in the creasing blade units.

9.` In a device of the character described, a creasing blade adapted to form a bight in a sheet of metal, a roller for deflecting the bight, and a wiper for compressing together the sides of the deflected bight.

10. In a device of the character described, a bed, a ruler mounted on said bed, means for forming the bight in a sheet of metal with said bight extending through the bed and beyond the ruler and a roller pivoted so as to pass the edge of said ruler.

11. In adevice of the character described, a bed Yhaving a slottherein` a ruler forming one edge of said slot, means for formin the bight in a sheet of metal with saidbight extending throughthe bed andbeyond the ruler anda wiper adapted to move across said slot and against said ruler.

12. VIn a device of the character described,

a bed having a slot therein, means for forming a bight in a sheet of metal and for pushing said bight through said slot, a roller movable across said slot to defiect said bight, and a wiper adapted 4to press together the sides of the so-deflected bight.

13. In a. device of the. character described, a bed having a slot therein, a support movable toward and away from said bed, a creasing blade adapted to engage a sheet of metal on said bedl to form a bight therein and push said bight through said slot, means for withdrawing said blade, a roller, means for moving said roller across the slot after retraction of the blade to deflect the bight made in the sheet metal by the creasing blade, and a wiper element adapted to smooth the deflected bight.

14. In a device of the character described, a bed, a. frame movable toward and away from said bed, a creasing blade on said frame, a shaft carried by the bed, a plurality of arms on said shaft, a roller pivotally mounted on said arms and rotatable about said shaft as an axis, said roller being movable across the path of the creasing blade.

15. In a sheet metal creasing machine, a bed having a slot therein, a frame movable toward and away from said bed, a creasing tool, a creasing blade carried by said frame and movable into said slot, and a wiper piv otally mounted on said frame and adapted to cross the path of the creasing blade while said tool is in the slot.

i 16. In a sheet metal creasing machine, means for making a. bight in a sheet of metal, a roller for deflecting said bight, and a wiper movable into contact with said roller to smooth the deflected bight.

17. In a metal creasing machine, means for rforming a plurality of creases in a sheet of metal, one of said creases being formed by the joint action'of acreasing'blade and a creasing tool, means for holding the sheet of metal after being creased, .and means ,operable after the creasing of the metal -and while said .tool is in said crease for reversely bending a. portion of the material constituting said crease.

18, In a device of the lcharacter described, a bed having a slot therein and a parallel indentation, means for forming a bight in a sheet of metal and forcing same through said slot, means subsequently acting and cooperating with said indentation to crease said metal and to hold it firmly against the bed, and vmeans acting while the sheet metal is kso heldto deflect kthe portion lof lthe previously formed bight extending Athrough the slot and subsequently fto smooth `s aid deflected portion.

19. In a device of the character described, .a bed having a `plurality of indentations therein parallel with one another, one of said indentations extendingthrough the bed to form a slot, a ruler forming one side of said slot and projecting below said bed, a frame, a blade carried by said frame for forming a bight in a sheet of metal and for projecting said bight through said slot, resilient means carried by said frame for engaging the sheet of metal on one side of said blade, additional resilient means on the other side of said blade for engaging the metal to be creased, a second frame, means on said second frame for rendering inoperative the additional resilient means, means on said second frame cooperating with the indentations on the bed to crease the sheet metal thereagainst and to hold said sheet in firm engagement with the bed, means carried by the bed to deflect the bight of metal extending through the slot, and means pivotally Acarried by the first mentioned frame for creasing the deflected bight against the ruler.

20. In a device of the character described, a bed having a slot therein, a ruler projecting beyond one side of the b ed, a creasing blade adapted to move from the opposite side of said bed into said slot to form a bight in a sheet of metal on the Vbed with said bight extending through the slot and beyond the ruler, and means on the first mentioned side of the bed for bending the bight toward the bed and against the ruler.

21. In a device of the character described, a bed'having an opening therein, a creasing blade movable into said opening to form a `bight in a sheet of metal, and a pressing tool movable into said ,opening for pressing the metal forming said bight against the sides of said opening, saidblade being adapted to be projected through said pressing tool to form said bight in advance of the movement of the tool into the opening` and bight.

22. In a device yof the character described, a bed having an opening therein, a creasing blade movable into said opening to form a bight in a sheet of metal, and a pressing tool movable into said opening for pressing the metal forming said bight against the sides of said opening, said pressing tool having a plurality of slots therein and said blade consisting of a corresponding number of sections spaced from each other to permit the `blade to be projected through the slots in said tool.

23. In a device of the character described, a bed having an opening therein, the width of said opening being constant, a creasing blade movable into said opening to form a bight in a sheet of metal on the bed, and means movable between opposite sides of said blade and the metal forming said bight yfor pressing the metal against the sides of said opening. Y

24. In a device of the character described, a ybed having an opening therein, the width of said opening being constant, a creasing blade movable into said Opening to form a biglit in a sheet of metal 0n the bed, and means movable between opposite sides of said blade and the metal forming said blight for pressing J[the metal against the sides of said opening before said blade is Withdrawn. from said bight and opening.

25. In a device of the character described, a bed having an opening therein, the Width of said opening being constant, a creasing 10 blade movable into said opening to form a bight in a sheet of metal on the bed, and means for pressing the metal forming said bight against two sides of said opening, all of the pressure on the metal to force it i5 against the sides of the opening being exerted entirely by the last-mentioned means.

GEORGE B. KING. 

